[IRP] EPIC Urges Court to Protect Speech of Privacy Advocate

[Katitza Rodriguez]

Dear all:

Today, EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief with the Fourth  
Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to hold that the First  
Amendment protects the speech of Betty Ostergren, a privacy advocate.  
Ostergren runs a Website that republishes Social Security Numbers,  
collected from public records, to persuade Virginia lawmakers to stop  
releasing documents that reveal Social Security Numbers. Under  
Virginia law, Ostergren could be prosecuted for publishing SSNs, even  
though Virginia makes the numbers widely available. A lower court held  
that the law violated Ostergren's First Amendment rights. Virginia  
appealed. EPIC's brief urges the appeals court to uphold the lower  
court's ruling. For more information, see EPIC Ostergren v. McDonnell,  
EPIC Social Security Numbers, and EPIC Identity Theft.

EPIC's Interest on this case:

EPIC has also routinely urged lawmakers, regulators, and courts to  
take meaningful steps to curb identity theft. Specifically, EPIC has  
advocated for increased privacy of SSNs and has argued repeatedly that  
the unwarranted disclosure of SSNs, even if truncated, can lead to  
identity theft. However, privacy and transparency are not a zero sum  
game. In this case, EPIC believes that the transparency and oversight  
interests advanced by Ostergren's disclosures will lead to greater  
protection of privacy, even if she discloses SSNs in order to do so.


http://epic.org/privacy/ostergren/Ostergren_EPIC_Amicus_Brief.pdf

All about Ostergren v. McDonnell

http://epic.org/privacy/ostergren/default.html


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